TAMPA, Fla. (January 27, 2007) ? In its first match of the head-to-head season, the University of South Florida men's tennis team took the doubles point and four singles matches to defeat visiting Stetson University 5-2 at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.
The Bulls (1-0) captured the early doubles point with wins on the second and third courts. Henning Hipp and teammate Daniel Daudt came away with the close victory over Serjuei Boulanov and Joey Jones, 9-8 at the No. 2 position. From the third spot, Mark Gattiker and Diego Toledo took care of business against the Hatters' Hicham Laalej and Peter Dzuba, 8-5.
“I thought for the first match of the season, we learned how important it is to win the doubles point,” said head coach Don Barr.
From there, USF held strong throughout singles play. Freshman Ales Svijelj set down Filip Kricka, 6-1, 6-1 from the No. 2 spot and newcomer Mahmoud Hamed continued his fine play, defeating Boulanov 6-3, 6-3.
At the fourth position, Thomas Estrada dropped the first set to Jones 3-6, but fought back strong to take the next two 6-3, 6-1 to claim the point. Toledo again defeated Dzuba in the No. 6 singles match 6-1, 6-0, as well.
“It is always good to win your first match of the season, it takes a little of the tightness away for the next match,” continued Barr. “Stetson is a good team that fought very hard and I feel we did a good job staying on top of the match. We need to continue working hard so we can bring out our best level of tennis on a regular basis.”
The win was the 199th of Barr's career. He will go for No. 200 this Saturday as the team travels to Tempe, Ari. for a two-match road trip against No. 57 Arizona State and No. 70 UC Santa Barbara. The Bulls will take on the Sun Devils Sat., Feb. 3 at noon and will battle the Gauchos on Sun., Feb. 4 at 10 a.m.
USF 5 Stetson 2
Doubles:
1) Marcus Echtler-Filip Kricka (STET) def. Mahmoud Hamed-Thomas Estrada (USF) 9-8
2) Henning Hipp-Daniel Daudt (USF) def. Serguei Boulanov-Joey Jones (STET) 9-8
3) Mark Gattiker-Diego Toledo (USF) def. Hicham Laalej-Peter Dzuba (STET) 8-5
Singles:
1) Marcus Echtler (STET) def. Henning Hipp (USF) 7-6, 6-2
2) Ales Svijelj (USF) def. Filip Kricka (STET) 6-1, 6-1
3) Mahmoud Hamed (USF) def. Serguei Boulanov (STET) 6-3, 6-3
4) Thomas Estrada (USF) def. Joey Jones (STET) 3-6, 6-3,6-1
5) Hicham Laalej (STET) def. Mark Gattiker (USF) 6-3, 6-2
6) Diego Toledo (USF) def. Peter Dzuba (STET) 6-1, 6-0
